It’s Wednesday and time for some new words. This weekend, I was reading Badlands by Richard Montanari, and I found some good ones there:
1. Wordstruck – “The daughter of a Scranton shopkeeper, Monica liked to dress in red; shy and wordstruck and virginal.”
Oddly enough, I can’t find a definition online for wordstruck. I did find a quote from Robert MacNeil’s book, Wordstruck, that is helpful: “Wordstruck is exactly what I was—and still am: crazy about the sound of words, the look of words, the taste of words, the feeling for words on the tongue and in the mind.” ~Robert MacNeil, Wordstruck
2. Tangram – “‘This is called a tangram puzzle,’ she said.”
The tangram is a Chinese “dissection” puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only in outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap.
3. Doyenne – “…an aging circus acrobat with flame-red tresses and ill-fitting teeth, the portly doyenne of a Hungarian gypsy troupe…”
I had always assumed doyenne meant an older woman. It actually means the oldest woman, the senior member of a group.
4. Gessoed – “Katja stared at him, through him, her face a blank, gessoed canvas.”
A blank surface prepared for painting; gesso is a thick, white mixture made of plaster and glue that is applied to a surface to prepare it for painting or gilding
5. Ludo – “One word glared back. Ludo.“
A simple board game in which players move counters according to the throw of dice.
6. Corollarium – “There was a single word beneath the last video. Corollarium.“
A garland of flowers; a present; a gratiuty.
7. Micropsia – “Plus, I discovered there’s something called Alice in Wonderland syndrome, also known as micropsia, which causes a person to perceive large objects as being much smaller.”
Micropsia is a neurological condition affecting human visual perception, in which objects appear smaller than normal and the subject larger than normal.
Interesting words from a book about a deadly game. What words did you find this week?